Gideon's Bakehouse coming to Disney Springs

[jaklgreen]

AGAIN, and I repeat (in a very kind way) - Soft opening does not mean you close suddenly without before you have a grand opening. It means you open, slowly ramp up and then do your "GRAND Opening" when you feel you're ready to call it a grand opening. Almost all the time, you already have a "Grand opening" date that you can commit to prior to the soft opening date.

I've opened up bakeries, cafe's, and stores in my past and can tell you that we've NEVER completely shut down without communication during the soft launch phase.

You don't do a soft opening to big fan fare and long lines, and then all of a sudden close up shop with no word until a day later. There's something fishy going on, and I don't mean those fish that are swimming around in the marketplace lake. And based on the alleged news of multiple employees getting COVID, it sounds like we were right.

Your experience has been different then mine because I have worked at places that opened for a test run and then closed for a while again. In fact, the last place that I worked at, which was opened by someone who had not worked in that setting before so was clueless, opened and closed several times until she thought we had it "right". This is what happens when you have people that open up a food establishment with no prior experience. The Gideon's owner had his small stall before, which is nothing compared to your own shop. Before that, he was an interior designer. The amount of people that open some kind of food place with no prior experience is shocking. That is why so many fail.

 

[UNCgolf]

I would be surprised if it wasn't related to COVID exposure. There have been several restaurants where I get take-out here in Atlanta that have had to close for a few days at a time due to an employee testing positive.

There are other potential reasons, but it seems like the most obvious one.

 

[SoFloMagic]

I would be surprised if it wasn't related to COVID exposure. There have been several restaurants where I get take-out here in Atlanta that have had to close for a few days at a time due to an employee testing positive.

There are other potential reasons, but it seems like the most obvious one.

Nothing else makes sense. If it's because demand what that nuts, you say that in the announcement. You thank they loyal fans and say you'll be back.

Either they had a case or they have no pr/marketing sense. 8k covid cases a day in florida - having a case isn't a big deal as long as you deal with it correctly. But don't lie...

 

[Zé_Carioca]

Apparently more than one employee tested positive for Covid-19. If this was intentional close due to a “soft-opening”, and not pandemic related, it seems like poor timing to shut down during one of the busiest weeks of the year...

This is confirmed, I knew it was closing before they announced it because they sent employees home early Saturday with little explanation on the future after they had 2+ exposures. Keep in mind they are a small bakery so im sure the covid scares puts a heavy dent on their workforce and they need to plan, plus the exposures were recent so they needed to send everyone home and get them tested to see how many were really effected. I'm sure now they are re-evaluating staff and maybe even some extra safety implementations. Why they aren't being honest, I don't know, I'm sure they want to protect their brand but all the speculation was just a really bad look.

 

[jaklgreen]

This is confirmed, I knew it was closing before they announced it because they sent employees home early Saturday with little explanation on the future after they had 2+ exposures. Keep in mind they are a small bakery so im sure the covid scares puts a heavy dent on their workforce and they need to plan, plus the exposures were recent so they needed to send everyone home and get them tested to see how many were really effected. I'm sure now they are re-evaluating staff and maybe even some extra safety implementations. Why they aren't being honest, I don't know, I'm sure they want to protect their brand but all the speculation was just a really bad look.

So are you saying that employees got Covid or that there was a possible exposure? I think every restaurant would be closing consistently every time someone maybe got "exposed". I am not saying that they shouldn't take these precautions, but no one is. They usually just send the individual that had contact with the Covid patient home. The store I work for part time didn't even tell us that we were possibly exposed until days after. Can't loose a whole department the week of Thanksgiving. So are they shutting down any business that has exposure at WDW?

 

[Zé_Carioca]

So are you saying that employees got Covid or that there was a possible exposure? I think every restaurant would be closing consistently every time someone maybe got "exposed". I am not saying that they shouldn't take these precautions, but no one is. They usually just send the individual that had contact with the Covid patient home. The store I work for part time didn't even tell us that we were possibly exposed until days after. Can't loose a whole department the week of Thanksgiving. So are they shutting down any business that has exposure at WDW?

Two employees tested positive before they closed, the rest were exposed since one of the positives had worked as recently as Friday night with other workers so they couldn't be sure who would have been infected and wanted to be safe. Other businesses don't close for this but they, as I said, are a very small bakery and do not have the manpower to keep the demand with a shorter staff, especially since they weren't sure how many were exposed yet.

Edited to add: on Saturday they were already operating at half staff to show how short staffed they were with the Covid exposures.

 

[Zé_Carioca]

To be clear, they closed after the second worker tested positive, they did not know they were positive when they worked Friday. They worked Friday, were informed another worker was positive and informed those who could have been in contact with the worker and asked for them to get tested, then on Saturday after an employee who worked Friday tested positive the owners instructed those working Saturday to pack up and that they were closing.

 

[jaklgreen]

Two employees tested positive before they closed, the rest were exposed since one of the positives had worked as recently as Friday night with other workers so they couldn't be sure who would have been infected and wanted to be safe. Other businesses don't close for this but they, as I said, are a very small bakery and do not have the manpower to keep the demand with a shorter staff, especially since they weren't sure how many were exposed yet.

Edited to add: on Saturday they were already operating at half staff to show how short staffed they were with the Covid exposures, but sure keep eye rolling.

This is good to hear that they are doing the right thing. It is a shame that their employees tested positive. Most places would not have closed.

 

[markc]

This is good to hear that they are doing the right thing. It is a shame that their employees tested positive. Most places would not have closed.

Most place do close for a deep cleaning. Disney - specifically, requires this as well. They aren't "doing the right thing" by closing - most likely Disney told them to do so.

It sucks they aren't being forthright. I'm sure it's overwhelming for them being a small business in a high profile location. But it looks like (and somebody can correct me if I'm wrong), that they've been doing all the wrong things up until this point. They've lost my trust as a potential customer. Open and honest communication is the only way to be if you expect to be a trusted proprietor of the community.

 

[Zé_Carioca]

Most place do close for a deep cleaning. Disney - specifically, requires this as well. They aren't "doing the right thing" by closing - most likely Disney told them to do so.

It sucks they aren't being forthright. I'm sure it's overwhelming for them being a small business in a high profile location. But it looks like (and somebody can correct me if I'm wrong), that they've been doing all the wrong things up until this point. They've lost my trust as a potential customer. Open and honest communication is the only way to be if you expect to be a trusted proprietor of the community.

See, I honestly don't know how to feel, I am not writing them off yet because it is a difficult choice how to address this and as a very small business who has just recently grown, they are still learning the ropes and don't have a professional PR/Marketing team. While I am also on the boat that I prefer honesty from establishments, I can see how they might be scared to call it a COVID related closure and make customers afraid of their brand, not everyone would be understanding. I also don't know if perhaps their contact at Disney Springs etc urged them to not address this as COVID related as it would be bad PR for the entire complex and maybe scare people off from going there while they try to safely address the issue. Yes, I know one store being exposed doesn't mean all are, but it would scare many consumers.

 

[Tha Realest]

if this is true, and they had infections, and are trying to lie about it and say they “picked a bad time” to Netflix and chill and the closure was always planned, then I will never go to this place. If they’re that misleading about something as serious as coronavirus, how can I trust what they’re putting into their food?

 

[markc]

See, I honestly don't know how to feel, I am not writing them off yet because it is a difficult choice how to address this and as a very small business who has just recently grown, they are still learning the ropes and don't have a professional PR/Marketing team. While I am also on the boat that I prefer honesty from establishments, I can see how they might be scared to call it a COVID related closure and make customers afraid of their brand, not everyone would be understanding. I also don't know if perhaps their contact at Disney Springs etc urged them to not address this as COVID related as it would be bad PR for the entire complex and maybe scare people off from going there while they try to safely address the issue. Yes, I know one store being exposed doesn't mean all are, but it would scare many consumers.

Regardless if they are scared of mentioning COVID or not - (again, assuming with what is allegedly being reported is true) then they are blatantly lying. I would have rather they just not said anything at all rather than making up an elaborate excuse as to why they are closed. Bad optics. Bad PR. Bad start to what was a promising business.

 

[Tha Realest]

Regardless if they are scared of mentioning COVID or not - (again, assuming with what is allegedly being reported is true) then they are blatantly lying. I would have rather they just not said anything at all rather than making up an elaborate excuse as to why they are closed. Bad optics. Bad PR. Bad start to what was a promising business.

If they are lying I hope this business fails quickly. A larger question is how we’re all sitting here days later and have no idea whether customers were exposed to their Covid-positive employees, and no clear way of finding out.

 

[Zé_Carioca]

if this is true, and they had infections, and are trying to lie about it and say they “picked a bad time” to Netflix and chill and the closure was always planned, then I will never go to this place. If they’re that misleading about something as serious as coronavirus, how can I trust what they’re putting into their food?

I don't want to go into too much detail because since the owners are clearly not willing to share the real reason, I don't want my friend to be fired but I would swear by my sources, I am not saying this from hearsay, I know all of this from a personal friend who reached out scared as all of this was unfolding and they were afraid of having been exposed to the virus at work.

I do agree that I rolled my eyes at the " watching tv" update. It was the worst reaction, even if they had not been lying, it is just a weird unprofessional thing to add to your business' oficial post. I coughed it up to them being a small new-ish business with no real marketing team but yeah definitely not a good look.

 

[Zé_Carioca]

Also, I am not saying they weren't planned to close but why have a bunch of new hires and have them scheduled to work, especially having them there Saturday for a full shift only to abruptly send them home in the middle of a shift the day they got COVID results from workers? It just isn't adding up.

 

[Lilofan]

Also, I am not saying they weren't planned to close but why have a bunch of new hires and have them scheduled to work, especially having them there Saturday for a full shift only to abruptly send them home in the middle of a shift the day they got COVID results from workers? It just isn't adding up.

Business decisions are sometimes unfair but must be done .

 

[Zé_Carioca]

Business decisions are sometimes unfair but must be done .

To clarify, I agree that it needed to be done and I am glad they closed early and sent everyone home to get tested and make sure it didn't spread further. I was just trying to say that given all of that. the closure does not appear to have been pre-planned as the end of the soft opening.

 

[jaklgreen]

To clarify, I agree that it needed to be done and I am glad they closed early and sent everyone home to get tested and make sure it didn't spread further. I was just trying to say that given all of that. the closure does not appear to have been pre-planned as the end of the soft opening.

I think you will find that most businesses would not give the true reason for closing. It is unethical if there was a chance that customers got exposed because they should absolutely know if they were. But many businesses really don't care about that. The public is fickle and can easily turn mob like in it's efforts to destroy the business, even if it is out of their control. Frankly, I think honesty is the best policy but people are nuts now with their keyboard warrior mentality to cause issues.

 

[Tha Realest]

I think you will find that most businesses would not give the true reason for closing. It is unethical if there was a chance that customers got exposed because they should absolutely know if they were. But many businesses really don't care about that. The public is fickle and can easily turn mob like in it's efforts to destroy the business, even if it is out of their control. Frankly, I think honesty is the best policy but people are nuts now with their keyboard warrior mentality to cause issues.

I’m not sure how it works in Orange Co FL but here locally our newspaper publishes health code violations. I know when the local Mexican restaurant has water below a safe temperature or if the BBQ restaurant has rats in the freezer area. We should know if there are multiple Covid cases at a public establishment.

 

[jaklgreen]

I’m not sure how it works in Orange Co FL but here locally our newspaper publishes health code violations. I know when the local Mexican restaurant has water below a safe temperature or if the BBQ restaurant has rats in the freezer area. We should know if there are multiple Covid cases at a public establishment.

That is a great thing to do. No, our local paper does not do that but I wish that they did. I like the States that make the food places post their ratings in the window.